A video instructional series on literary analysis for college and high school classrooms and adult learners; 24 half-hour video programs and coordinated books

Noted critics, authors, scholars, and actors enliven this exploration of literature and literary analysis. Dramatizations, readings, and discussions build skills in critical thinking and writing. Illuminating excerpts of short fiction, poetry, plays, and essays — both classic and contemporary — highlight standard literary forms and devices including plot, myth, setting, and character. This series can also be used as a resource for teacher professional development.

2. Ways of Seeing: Responding to Literature
A focus on critical approaches to literature is presented by the scholars who will
appear throughout the series. This program also previews selected dramatic scenes
from upcoming programs and excerpts from the author interviews that highlight
the series.

3. A Personal View: The Art of the Essay
A documentary segment traces the development of the formal essay and the birth of
printing technology and their impact on the growth of political democracy. An
interview with essayist Willie Morris focuses on the informal essay.

11. The Sacred Words: The Elements of Poetry
The role of poetry for the individual and the culture is suggested through visual
essays. An interview with James Dickey includes his reading and analysis of his
poems "The Performance" and "The Lifeguard."

12. A Sense of Place: Setting and Character in Poetry
The historical settings of "My Last Duchess," "Theme for English B," and "Dover
Beach" convey much about the characters and ideas of these poems. The New
England landscapes of Maxine Kumin echo the themes of her poetry.

13. Tools of the Trade: Words and Images in Poetry
Poetry readings, visualizations of poems, and an interview with Lucille Clifton,
who reads two of her favorite poems, "This Morning" and "Homage to My Hips,"
reveal the beauty and the workings of poetic language and imagery.

14. Seeing Anew: Rhetorical Figures in Poetry
The power of metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech becomes clear through
dramatizations of Anne Bradstreet's "The Author to Her Book," Nikki Giovanni's
"Woman," and Daniel Halpern's "Snapshot of Hue." Gary Soto is interviewed and
reads and comments on his poem "Oranges."

15. An Echo to the Sense: Prosody and Form in Poetry
X. J. Kennedy discusses and demonstrates the importance of rhyme and meter in
his poetry. Dramatic readings of poems by Shakespeare, Dickinson, and Hopkins
and contemporary poets like Dudley Randall and Leonard Adame are analyzed to
show how prosody and form contribute to meaning.

17. Artful Resonance: Theme in Poetry
Dramatizations of six poems that share the same subject help clarify the difference
between subject and theme. Close analysis of poems by John Donne and Donald
Hall explore the interrelationship between poetic form and meaning.

21. The Vision Quest: Myth and Symbolism in Drama
Alaskan playwright David Hunsaker's dramatizations of Eskimo myth and his productions of Eskimo translations of Greek tragedies, together with scenes from Oedipus Rex, demonstrate the enduring power and meaning of myth in drama.

22. A Frame for Meaning: Theme in Drama
Dramatist David H. Hwang discusses the themes and structure of his plays, which
include M. Butterfly. Scholars consider thematic interpretations inherent in the
production of a single act of Hamlet.

24. Continuing Vision: The Uses of Literature
This program explores the impact of literature on the society and culture in the past
and present. It then looks into the future to see what forms literature may take and to
assess its possible influence on society.